This Christmas will be the 29th since Mariah Carey released “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” It’s been part of the holiday soundtrack for the entire lives of Gen Z and Generation Alpha. And for a substantial part of mine, though I can still remember life before all those melismas. I’m a late boomer, born the year after the release of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee. “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby, first recorded in 1942, was already a venerated secular classic. Both remain at the top of the all-time holiday playlist.

I must admit, for a couple of yuletides, I was glad to hear Carey’s song get more play than the melancholy, slightly vengeful “Last Christmas” by Wham!, even if I did idolize George Michael.1